The MamaGey ArtJoy Exhibit: A Blessed Tribute to the Sacred Circle of Life

By Gail Lyons

My lifelong love affair with drawing probably started around the same time I fell hopelessly in love with chocolate. Both affairs are much alive and doing well.

I can recall being a young girl having the secretive excitement of knowing my father’s shirts, which were professionally cleaned and pressed, would arrive home in a big cardboard box. Once the plastic packaged shirts were neatly put away in the chest of drawers I would quietly “liberate” the sheets of cardboard that had been slipped into the fold of the laundered shirt to maintain its shape. I would gather as many as I could. Next, to find a pencil with a point. Finally, to search the bookshelf to find just the right World Book Encyclopedia. What letter? Once selected I was ready to claim my spot behind the sofa, with cardboard, pencil and encyclopedia set out in front of me. Open book. Page after page. Until there! A face. A style of dress. Someone from somewhere I never even heard of.

And so it would begin. Meditation they call it nowadays. Total focus drawing the person who had beckoned me. That’s the one I had to draw. Needing to transfer the magic onto a blank piece of cardboard. The genesis of Artjoy. A joy that has blessed me all my life. All the drawings that were displayed in the exhibit were created from the essence of that joy.

The same is true of dance and theatre.

Not one to have been schooled, trained as much as one who has been blessed given the gift of studying, learning by paying attention. Watch, listen, breathe, try, fail. Trust instincts. Embrace

Spirit. Love with everything you got!

Born into an artistic family it is in our blood. Cut us and we’ll most likely bleed ink. It has never been a dream of mine to exhibit my Artjoy. Routinely, when the piece was completed it would be ceremoniously tucked away in a drawer where it would remain for years. Until my Beloved Son Jimmy would repeatedly say to me “Ma, you need to put your art out into the world! People need to see what you do, who you are. And I know how and where.” He was so confident that it would be good medicine for all of us. His vision was so clear. I would simply say “Okay”. Go on about my business. Jimmy was the one who kept the fires burning.

In loving tribute to Jimmy’s visionary dream MamaGey ArtJoy Exhibit opened May 11, 2023. Blessed thanks to Beloved sister Yanava who so beautifully and soulfully curated the pieces and created the 280 home vibration. And Beloved brother Teo David who so graciously opened his arms and his WWTS Gallery so that the dream would have a home. Shout out to Delaware Camera for providing all the finishing touches. Hugs and kisses to Girl Gang for all the wonderful ways you light.

Our family history in this town is legendary. From my Beloved father Jimmy Lyons becoming the first Black full time radio DJ among his other many talents. My Beloved mother Ruth Lyons becoming a pioneer teacher in the Early Push Program. My Beloved siblings Jamie, Jo Anne and Gwen all establishing progressive uplifting careers and life styles. My Beloved children Kunjani, Jimmy and Yanava each artistically making a name for themselves, to the next generation Endaya, Jayden, Zion and Zela just beginning to find their artistic voices.

This is not only family history. It is Buffalo history. It is African American history. It is who we are and where we come from. We are each given gifts in this brief period of time on this planet. It is our responsibility to reciprocate. Artists are the beauticians of the world, making survival look beautiful.

The MamaGey ArtJoy Exhibit will forever be a blessed tribute to the Sacred Circle of Life. My heartfelt humble gratitude for all the sincere love, encouragement and kindness.

STREET LEGACY PHOTOS BY DARVIN ADAMS

Muhammad's Mosque No. 23 hosted Bro. Nuri Muhammad Student Minister of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan 3rd from left (in blue suit) last weekend where he was the keynote speaker at a Youth Inspired Forum and a Male/Female Relationship Forum at the Edward Saunders Community Center. Edward Saunders. The gracious Bro. Nuri also met with the Black media - The Challenger, the Criterion and WUFO Power 96.5 . Among those pictured above at The Golden Cup prior to a banquet hosted in his Bro. Nuri's honor last Friday are Murray Holman, Bishop Frederick Gelsey, Bro. David and Sister Jeannie Muhammad, Sister Carlanda Meadows, Rev. Kenneth Simmons, Dr. Eva Doyle and Jackie Stitts. Mrs. Stits ad her husband Larry are proprietors of the Golden Cup Cafe located at Utica and Jefferson. More to follow next week!

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